Electric Food Dehydrators come in all kinds of sizes and shapes ranging widely in both quality and price.
A compact, low cost food dehydrator that costs between $30 and $40 will probably have the heating source located at the bottom of the appliance and it could take up to 3 days in order to dry certain kinds of foods.
This might be all right for the occasional use and it will be ideal for keeping the kids busy for a few hours.
If on the other hand you are trying to find a more substantive and reliable system for you to preserve foods either for snacks, camping out, backpacking or survival situations then you really must expect to pay more for a superior model.
My husband has a saying - "Find the Best for the Least"
What you will be looking for is a dehydrator that delivers speedy, even and nutritious drying of food.
This is a list of the features and benefits that the more expensive, top of the range, electric food dehydrators offer.
A top mounted fan so that liquids do not drip down in to the heating chamber.
1000 watts of electric power providing a quicker drying time for large quantities of food.
Air flow system that forces heated air down the outside pressurized chamber, then horizontally over each individual tray for quick, even and nutritious drying.
No flavor blending.
Drying pressures adapting automatically to a variable range of trays.
Opaque exterior which obstructs light to help retain more of the foods nutrients and vitamins during the drying process.
Expanding to satisfy your needs. You might initially buy a four tray system and then discover that you could use more drying space. With an expandable system it is simple to add more trays, say 20 trays giving you 20 square feet of drying space.
The real question you need to think about is, which of those features can I manage without while still providing fast, even and healthy food.
My personal short list of essentials for an electric food dehydrator would be as follows: top mounted fan, opaque exterior, horizontal air flow, expanding tray system, variable drying pressures and also I would prefer a moderately fast drying system.
